Akiva
Masculine
Akiva is given to both — 2,794 boys and 138 girls since 1880. See other names given to both
Akiva is the Aramaic form of Jacob, and it belongs to one of the most quoted names in rabbinic literature — Rabbi Akiva ben Yosef, a sage of the second century whose sayings fill the Talmud. In the mouth it is three easy syllables built around a long middle vowel, uh-KEE-vuh, which is why it travels between Hebrew and English with almost nothing lost. In the United States it sits mostly in Jewish families, familiar inside that world and a discovery outside it.
How old is the name Akiva?
Akiva first appears in US birth records in 1961 — 64 years ago. The typical Akiva alive today was born around 2012, making them about 13 years old. About 2,700 people named Akiva are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Akiva most popular?
Akiva peaked in 2020, reaching #1262 nationally. Today it ranks #1466, 204 places below that high. See the whole 2020 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Yaʿaqov to Akiva
The story of Akiva
The name comes out of Aramaic-speaking Jewish Palestine, where Hebrew Yaʿaqov was reshaped into ʿAqiva. Its fame rests on Rabbi Akiva ben Yosef, a leading figure of the Mishnaic period in the second century, whose opinions run through the Talmud and whose death at Roman hands is recounted in it; rabbinic tradition also tells of him coming to study only in middle age. For centuries afterwards the name stayed in Jewish use, appearing in European records more often as Akiba, the transliteration favored in German scholarship, with Kive as the everyday Yiddish form. Modern Hebrew restored Akiva, and that is the spelling that reached American birth records, where it is concentrated in New York, New Jersey and California.
Meaningscholars disagree
The Aramaic form of Jacob (Yaʿaqov)
That Akiva is Aramaic for Jacob is not in doubt. What Jacob itself means is: the Hebrew Bible links Yaʿaqov to ʿaqev, 'heel', from the account of Jacob born grasping his brother's heel, giving 'he who follows' or 'supplanter'; a second reading takes the name from a root meaning 'to protect', as in 'may God protect'. Both are seriously held.
How the name formed
- Yaʿaqov
- ʿAqiva
- Akiba
- Akiva
Related forms: עֲקִיבָא (Akiva) · Akiba · Kive · Yaakov · Jacob · Yaqub
Pronouncing Akiva
uh-KEE-vuh
Hebrew places the stress on the last syllable, ah-kee-VAH; American English almost always moves it to the middle. Both are correct in their own setting, and families often use one at home and accept the other outside it.
Nicknames for Akiva
High
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1961
- Most boys named
- 2020145 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1262reached in 2020
- Change vs 2024
- +0.8%121 in 2025, from 120
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Akiva in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- עֲקִיבָא (Akiva) in Hebrew — transliteration
- Akiba in German / older scholarship — spelling variant
- Kive in Yiddish — related form
- Yaakov in Hebrew — related form
- Jacob in English — related form
- Yaqub in Arabic — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: New York, New Jersey, California.
Akivas among us
people named Akiva are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 14,116 born in 2025 was named Akiva
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Stevenson test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Akiva's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Stevenson climbed just as high around 1953, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Stevenson's path sketches the road Akiva is walking now.
Akiva sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Akiva is headed
Akiva should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Akiva beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Akiva in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Three syllables, all of them phonetic in English — most people can say it correctly on sight even if they have never met it.
- One long documented line back to Rabbi Akiva of the second century, so the name is never a modern invention that has to be explained.
- Has a ready-made short form in Kiva, plus Kivi for childhood, without needing anything improvised.
- Works in Hebrew and English with the same spelling, which matters for families who move between the two.
- The name is strongly identified with Jewish tradition and with one particular sage. Inside Jewish communities that is instantly recognized; outside them, expect to explain the name often, and to be asked where it comes from.
- Two spellings are in circulation — Akiva and the older Akiba — so anyone who has encountered the rabbi in print may reach for the other one. Worth deciding early which is yours.
- It will most likely be the only one in the class, which cuts both ways: no confusion with a second Akiva, but also a lifetime of saying it twice on the phone.
- Stress moves depending on who is speaking. Some people will say uh-KEE-vuh and some ah-kee-VAH, and a child usually ends up fluent in both.
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What they receive
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Akiva
Masculine · #1466 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Akivas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 2,700 people named Akiva are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Akiva in 2025?
- Akiva ranks #1466 among US boy names in 2025, with 121 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Akiva?
- About 1 in every 14,116 US boys born in 2025 was named Akiva — 121 in all.
- Will my child share the name Akiva with classmates?
- Akiva will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Akiva
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Rodolfo#1466 · Malek#1466 · Joao#1466 · Jetson#1466 · Monte#1466 · Calloway#1466 · Sire#1466 · Ishmael#1466
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Akiva? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Akiva and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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